More Gun Control Equals Lower Firearm Fatality Rates?

More Gun Control Equals Lower Firearm Fatality Rates?

An article on the PolicyMic website, written by Brian Frydenborg, who identified himself as a former “Peace Operations” student in college, makes a number of scholarly-sounding claims. First, it says that “studies” show that “[s]tates with more gun regulations had lower rates of gun deaths, and states with less gun laws had higher gun death rates, both in terms of suicide and homicide.” It also asserts that the “10 states with the weakest gun laws had over twice the rate of gun violence as the 10 states with the strongest gun laws,” and that “the presence of gun laws in states had a strong correlation with less gun violence.” It even goes on to insist that “the number one determining factor in gun suicide rates by state was not mental health issues, but gun ownership. What counts as “strong laws,” of course, was defined by gun control supporters.

Frydenborg concludes, “If you think I’m wrong, the burden of proof is on you to provide counter-evidence.”

On the latter point, we have to say “not really.” In this country, the burden of proof is not upon those who wish to exercise rights, it is upon those who wish to restrict them.